Liah Greenfeld is Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Anthropology at Boston University, and Distinguished Adjunct Professor at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. She is the author of Mind, Modernity, Madness: The Impact of Culture on Human Experience (Harvard University Press, 2013), Nation…read more

Comments

I wouldn't be surprised if policy-makers were more qualified than the average American believes. Certainly disease is not the 'whole person', nor does disease affect everyone.

If it weren't for the negative aspects of emotion present in adopting irrational views, irrational views would long have changed into a form of rational genius. To some extent, the path of Zeno's paradoxes and the Romantic poets is untrod even today.

If you consider these statements unoriginal or insane, consider that they may be some of the only positive options----like I said, simply a problem of emotional, rather than systemic or cognitivie, denial of the positive.

In my book the Dimensional Philosopher's Toolkit I detail a profound system of objective knowledge---a form of rational mastery. In another book I wrote, called Creeping Cadence and Cadence Continues, I detail how I am schizophrenic and write poetry. In today's world, the complexity is not an 'ulterior' or 'spectre of history', but instead the question of our own minds, and involves a significant amount of potential reason, even amongst madness. Some of it is treatment, but there are people with good intentions, even amongst those who are mentally ill. Read more

As these conditions are presumed to be distributed uniformly within the population, they must afflict a significant share of policymakers, corporate executives, educators, and military personnel of all ranks, recurrently rendering them psychotic, delusional, and deprived of sound judgment.

Perhaps we should address the elephant in the room - that a sizable proportion of US government, military and corporate leaders are psychopathic, rather than depressed. Depressives are treatable to some extent, psychopaths are not. The recent behavior in high places post-2001, including celebrating and rewarding the too-big-to-jail creators of the 2008 crash and the latest government paranoia over whistleblowers, tells me that the USA has far worse existential problems than 10% or 20% mentally ill citizens would indicate. Read more

Poverty, economic insecurity and especially the conditions under which American children are raised must surely contribute to this problem. In the US there is no guaranteed paid sick leave or maternity leave, no job security, mandatory overtime and many have no health insurance. Housing assistance for the poor is minimal at best, so many poor families are constantly on the move. Poor neighborhoods are plagued by violence. Add to this the increase in food insecurity and you have mothers who are under far too much stress to nurture their children. Fathers who are in jail or can't get a job often abandon their families and relatives are struggling with their own economic challenges. Americans who work full time work longer hours than contemporaries across the globe and the work pace has been accelerating. How can they find the energy to properly nurture the next generation? And now congress is debating further cuts to head start even though it has an amazing track record. In many states, clinics that provide poor women with birth control are being closed. We are a nation that seriously neglects our children and their caretakers. Read more

I do not know what role 'inconspicuous consumption' could play in furthering 'depression', but I have seen the potent role of 'conspicuous consumption', in societies like in the Gemeinde or local self-governed districts of Switzerland or in the extreme poverty-stricken areas in the interior of India, where the absence of greed or incentives that drive the 'seeking alpha' syndrome does not make a 'winner take all' denouement where the gains by one does not leave thousands return empty handed. However, egalitarian societies in advanced nations also have their bout of problems as in the Nordic States; perhaps only more research and data can prove conclusively what drives true happiness. Read more

How real is this data? Given that the DSM seems to exist to create patients for the pharmacological industry and its profits. Is it rational to assume that the USA is far more mentally ill per head of population than other countries? Seems unlikely unless the evidence is very good. What possible reasons could there be for Americans being far more mentally than any other country? Read more

I find the general point here sound-- that epidemic levels of mental illness is imperiling not only those afflicted but the entire country. But your manner of delivery reveals and attitude and purpose that is more than sensational-- it is demonizing. People with mental illness have faced such discrimination as far back as you care to look, but to characterize one fifth of the country; to characterize people with depression as ALL "psychotic, delusional, and deprived of sound judgment" is not only patently wrong-- it serves to warp public opinion against such people-- it treats them like a threat, a disease, something lesser than. Shame on you. Read more

Dr. Greenfeld is absolutely spot on here and in her book. Unfortunately, what she predicts concerning the dangers of those harboring mental illness guiding US policy decisions has all ready come to pass. The madness of those in power who initiated the Iraq War and the irrational justifications for it surely demonstrates Greenfeld's greatest fears. That the general population of the US is comfortable with the fact that its leadership initiated a senseless war based on lies and deception resulting in the deaths of multitudes of innocent people as well as producing over a million refugees reflects insensitivity and callous disregard that is off the charts of normalcy. The examples of the mass psychological malady that has developed in the US are considerable and dangerous to ourselves and others. Read more

Why not register an account with us, too? You'll be able to follow individual authors (to receive notifications whenever they publish new articles) and subscribe to more specific, topic-based newsletters.

Project Syndicate provides readers with original, engaging, and thought-provoking commentaries by global leaders and thinkers. By offering incisive perspectives from those who are shaping the world’s economics, politics, science, and culture, Project Syndicate has created an unrivaled global venue for informed public debate.